


Some Kind Of Murder

by the_interuniversal_geometer



Series: WIP Wednesday [1]
Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern, Alternate Universe - No Cultivation, Angst and Humor, Death Note Fusion, I Have Forgotten Everything About It, M/M, Multi, No Death Note Knowledge Needed, in fact
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28739157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_interuniversal_geometer/pseuds/the_interuniversal_geometer
Summary: Jin Ling finds a Death Note. Lan Yuan finds a Death Note. They find each other. The two boys find themselves unraveling the mysteries of their pasts, together.
Relationships: Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán & Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán/Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian/Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji
Series: WIP Wednesday [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106996
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Some Kind Of Murder

**Author's Note:**

> No Death Note knowledge needed to read this!! All you need to know is that if you write someone’s name + cause of death in the Death Note they will die through those means and if you don’t write a cause of death they die by heart attack. You have to know their name and their face before you can kill them so ppl w the same name are not affected. There will be no Shinigami~
> 
> Title from a quote “War of the Foxes” by Richard Siken — “How much can you change and get away with it, before you turn into someone else, before it's some kind of murder?”
> 
> Happy WIP Wednesday ^_^

Jin Ling is not, by nature, a vindictive person. He is not cruel and he is not unkind. At least…that’s what he tells himself. That is his mantra as he writes ten words into an unassuming black notebook.

Ten.

Little.

Words.

And with them, he knows his life is about to change, hopefully for the better.  _ ‘Jin Guangyao, suicide by gun after writing down his crimes’ _ is all he writes and he hopes…he  _ prays, _ to any god that will listen, that it will be painful. That he will hurt as much as he has hurt Jin Ling. And after this…after this there will be no further reason to write anything else in the book. No one else he needs to kill.

That’s what he tells himself, anyways, as he puts the book inside his backpack and gets into bed. He holds onto that thought and doesn’t let go, no matter how untrue it feels.

+++

When he rolls out of bed the next morning it takes him a few moments to remember what happened the previous night. Did…did he really do that? Write his uncle’s name in this…Death Notebook? He pulls it out of his backpack and reads the words he wrote again and again and again and wonders if it actually worked.

"A-Ling?" Jiang Cheng's voice echoes up the stairs. He almost drops the notebook but instead surreptitiously stuffs it into his backpack, feeling it crumple he does so.

"Yes, Jiujiu?" Jin Ling asks, voice pitched a bit too high in his brief panic.

"Are you alright in there?" Jiang Cheng is right outside his door and all Jin Ling can think to do is kick his backpack further under the desk.

"Y-Yeah!" Jin Ling says, trying to get himself under control.

"Can I come in?" Jiang Cheng asks.

"Sure," Jin Ling says, not wanting him to come in at all but not knowing what excuse he can give otherwise.

Jiang Cheng enters, looking solemn. "Jin Ling…" he begins, and then stops, looking around the room almost searchingly. Jin Ling feels cold sweat breaking out at his brow and underarms, his heart fluttering in his chest before Jiang Cheng's gaze rests on him. "Jin Guang—your shushu passed away away last night."

"He did?" Jin Ling asks, voice once again pitched too high. "He did?" he tries again, pitching his voice much lower this time.

Jiang Cheng gives him a pitying look. "I know you were close to him."

Jin Ling nods vigorously.  _ Success. _ "Y-Yeah, I was. do they…do they know what happened?"

"It was a heart attack," he says gently, and Jin Ling knows this is a lie. "He died in his sleep."

_ That snake deserved to suffer for what he did,  _ he thinks. but aloud he says, "That's…that's good, at least." In the relief at his success, at having fooled his uncle, he can feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, A-Ling," Jiang Cheng says, and takes three strides forward, enveloping him in a hug. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

_ Yes, now it will, _ Jin Ling knows. Instead of saying anything, though, he just sniffles and lets the tears fall. Jin Guangyao is dead. The man who killed his father is finally dead, and now Jin Ling can sleep just a bit easier.

+++

It’s been one hell of a month, as Jin Ling pretends to grieve and watches his uncle help prepare the funeral but, after all this time, Jin Ling think’s that he’s finally ready. He grips his cellphone in sweaty palms. His fingers shake slightly as he punches the numbers into the keypad. Instead of using his (rather traceable) smartphone, he bought a burner phone with some allowance that he had saved up. It's funny: his hands are shaking more now, making this phone call, than when they did as he wrote his shu—Jin Guangyao's name in the notebook.

He breathes heavily as he listens to it ring: once, twice, and then thrice, before finally connecting.

"Hello, Wei Wuxian speaking!" comes the bright voice from the other line.

Jin Ling opens his mouth and just breathes heavily for a moment, unable to say anything at all as Wei Wuxian asks, "Hello? is anyone there?" Jin Ling doesn't know what to say. His mind is spinning in circles, looking for the right words, the right sounds. "This isn't funny!" Wei Wuxian says a bit sharply, and Jin Ling knows that this is his last chance.

"Hi!" he squeaks out.  _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, I fucked it up. _

A small pause and then, "Hello? who is this?" Wei Wuxian asks, voice once again pleasant.

"This is—this is Jin Ling?" Jin Ling says and when he doesn't hear anything on the other line he continues hesitantly, "Your nephew?"

"Jin…Ling? Little Jin Rulan, who would always try to eat my hair?" Wei Wuxian asks, voice cracking.

"Y-Yeah," Jin Ling stutters out. "I mean I don't remember any of that, but yeah, that's my name."

"Oh my god," Wei Wuxian whispers and Jin Ling can hear something make a small  _ thump _ sound on the other line. "Did something happen to Jiejie? To Jiang Cheng?" he asks, panic lacing his voice.

"No! Not at all!" Jin Ling jumps to reassure him. "No I—I wanted to tell you that…Jin Guangyao died a few months ago and on his computer they found…they found files implicating him in the death of my father."

"I—what?" Wei Wuxian stutters out. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, now you can…A-Niang misses you," he says, unable to finish the sentence and trying to get his meaning across another way, "and so does Jiujiu."

" _ Ah _ ," Wei Wuxian says, pained, as if the noise was pulled from his chest involuntarily. "That's—Jin Ling, you shouldn't have called me. Your jiujiu won't be happy if he hears about this."

"Why  _ not _ ?" Jin Ling asks, frustrated. Wei Wuxian has been cleared of all charges! And A-Niang and Jiujiu miss him! What else is there to it?

"Jin Ling…" Wei Wuxian starts, his voice gentle as if he's afraid of hurting him. "I already knew that I was cleared. I've known for a while now. This doesn't change anything."

"What?!" Jin Ling exclaims into the phone and hears commotion from the floor below him, a muffled calling of his name. “ _ What?!" _ he whispers into the phone line. "Why the f—why  _ not? _ " he asks desperately.

"There are things you don't understand," Wei Wuxian says.

"So tell m—" Jin Ling begins but Wei Wuxian cuts him off.

"It would be better if you forgot this number existed, forgot I existed.  _ Please, _ Jin Ling, I'm asking you to leave it. I—thank you for calling me, it means the world to me, but…please," he says, and something in Jin Ling breaks. "I love you. I love all of you so,  _ so _ much," he says, voice raw.

Jin Ling opens his mouth to say something,  _ anything, _ but then he hears the dial tone and he's left there, standing alone in his room, with a beeping phone in his hands.

He hears sharp knocking at his door. "Jin Ling! Jin Ling open up!"

"Come in," he says, and feels oddly empty inside.

"A-Ling what's the matter?" Jiang Cheng asks as he steps into the room. "Why are you crying?" Jin Ling…hadn't realized he was crying. "Who were you talking to? You were pretty loud, earlier."

"I—" Jin Ling says, and then breaks off into a sob.

"Oh, come here," Jiang Cheng says and wraps him up in a hug. "It's okay, it's okay." Jin Ling feels his knees give out, the adrenalin and loss hitting him all at once.

"I'm sorry!" he wails in his uncle's embrace. "I’m s-sorry!"

"A-Ling there's nothing for you to apologize for," Jiang Cheng says, soft but with a bit of an edge to it. "Who did this to you?"

"No one—no one did anything!" he wails louder, tears streaming down his face. "I’m—I’m just s-sorry."

"A-Ling…" Jiang Cheng says and hugs him tighter. "Do you want to see A-Niang?" he asks. Jin Ling nods. He knows she needs her rest but he needs to see her. "Okay," Jiang Cheng says and stands up. "C'mon. let's go."

Jin Ling follows him out, walking down the stairs in a blurry, hollow shuffle. When he enters his mom's room he walks up to the end of her bed and then kneels down, holding her hand firmly but gently.

"What's wrong A-Ling?" she asks softly, blinking sleep out of her eyes but he just shakes his head. Jiang Yanli glances up, above his head, and then looks back down at him. "Oh, honey," she says, "It'll be okay. I promise."

Jin Ling can faintly hear the sound of a door closing behind him but he just shakes his head. His mom squeezes his hand, rubbing her thumb over his hand in a comforting gesture. "It's okay, when you're ready you'll tell your A-niang everything." Jin Ling nods helplessly. he’ll figure out… _ something _ to tell her, but until he can find the words, he just sits there, crying, and holding his mother's hand.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was based on me, at 3am going… hanguang-jun… bearer of light… WHAT IF… lwj was trans AND light yagami’s (aka sizhui’s) bio dad? and thus this au was born!! lwj is NOT jin ling’s dad i promise. jin ling, in fact, takes the place of misa amane.
> 
> Sooooo I have so fuckin many wips and I want to post some of them? So that’s what I’m gonna be doing, sticking them into a series w each other. Please don’t beg for updates!!! Just…tell me what you liked about the fic or that you liked it~ 🥺


End file.
